It’s a brisk Denver morning as we stroll into the BMW dealership. I wanted to get there as soon as they opened to commence the discussion on how to get my bike back on the road sooner rather than later. The service counter is ruled by a lovely woman who proceeds to tell me that there is only one man in house who will work on my type of bike. Take it how ever you want but to me that was quite a relief as it translated directly into ‘there is only one guy here capable of said work.’ She allows me access into the shop where I meet an older gentleman off in the corner lift with my bike already raised. I’m introduced to Clem and we proceed to go over what happened and our possible solutions.
Being that Clem has been in the game for quite some time, he tells me he has a Lester front rim at home that he can sell me and with a few modifications should fit and work without and issue. Time is of the essence and shopping around to find a better deal on a wheel and getting it shipped wouldn’t be cost efficient so I agree to take his front rim off his hands and ask him to proceed.
On anther note, my kick stand gave out on day one. It simply couldn’t take the weight of all the gear I’m carrying and by the end of the day the bike just wanted to tip over like a top losing momentum. I was forced to carry around a few pieces of wood to throw under the stand at every stop. I inquire about an aftermarket stand for purchase, of which I’ll install myself to save a couple bucks on the labor. Clem has one Brown Stand for my bike in stock – sold.
Not much else to do but wait so we depart from BMW with the idea that it will all be ready today. The team grabs lunch and I get a phone call from Clem with bad news. He says that it appears the damage is worse than we thought and that sliders (lower half of the suspension) might be needed since my axle friction-welded itself to the bearings and internals in the front rim and could have possibly spun with the wheel inside the space where it would have been clamped in place. My wallet knows what’s coming and I’m not far behind. Clem says he might have just one at home, and gives me a rough estimate on the scope of work. A call back is in order so I can weigh my options:
Option 1 – I take the hit and service the bike and hope I don’t have more problems later.
Options 2 – ship the bike home, try to find a used bike locally that might look promising.
Option 3 – ship the bike home and look into financing a new bike which would definitely be reliable, with the intention of selling it once I get home. I only entertained this option because I kind of have an interest in the CB500X.
I came to my senses and naturally option 1 is the only plausible one, primarily because I had no intention of leaving my bike behind which meant that shipping the bike back would be an unavoidable cost that would always exceed the repair costs (for now at least).
I give Clem the OK to move forward with getting my bike back on the road asap and ask if I can save any money by offering to tidy up his garage. Didn’t work, but I think he felt my pain and is going to work with me.
Round 1 went to Father Time. I still got my gloves on though and am ready for round 2.